Comments on: Groupers Use Gestures to Recruit Morays For Hunting Team-Upshttp://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/groupers-use-gestures-to-recruit-morays-for-hunting-team-ups/
A science salon hosted by National Geographic MagazineSun, 02 Aug 2015 18:15:24 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3By: Sheridan DeWolfhttp://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/groupers-use-gestures-to-recruit-morays-for-hunting-team-ups/#comment-1916184
Tue, 27 Jan 2015 14:07:25 +0000http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/?p=155052#comment-1916184In Mexico, I saw the eel chase the prey into the rocks, the grouper swam around to the other side and either caught it when it came through or chased it back to the eel.
]]>By: Edhttp://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/groupers-use-gestures-to-recruit-morays-for-hunting-team-ups/#comment-109115
Sun, 24 Aug 2014 19:20:34 +0000http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/?p=155052#comment-109115Does the eel get anything out of it? The answer is yes sometimes the moray gets the fish, sometimes the grouper. But another benefit for the moray is protective cover.

A free swimming moray is easy prey for barracuda and sharks, both of which are much less likely to mess with a hunting pair of eel with a grouper wingman.

]]>By: Joehttp://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/groupers-use-gestures-to-recruit-morays-for-hunting-team-ups/#comment-47647
Fri, 03 May 2013 13:55:07 +0000http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/?p=155052#comment-47647It is funny you say that fish are unlikely to be equal to apes in intelligence. Perhaps so, but Bshary’s research in the lives of cleaner wrasses indicates signs of Machiavellian intelligence. They seem to distinguish predatory fishes from non predatory ones and are far more careful with the former than the latter. They often try to nip mouthfuls of mucous from the fish’s body. If a client notices this, the cleaner will give it a quick massage as a way of “apologising” for it slip up. They are also less likely to steal bitefuls of mucous if they are other fish waiting in line to be cleaned as they might avoid such an untrustworthy cleaner in the future! The cleaner wrasse seems to be very far from the stereotypical three second memory view that the public has of fish.

To be honest, we have only seriously started looking at the cognitive abilities of fishes fairly recently. While science has just barely scratched the surface, there now seems to be growing evidence that fish are vastly more complex in their behaviour than we give them credit for. The tool use of the tusk fish reported last year shows us that we simply don’t know much about fish compared to other vertebrates and I believe some of the most surprising findings in animal behaviour will be found in fish in the next coming years.

It is also funny you mentioned ravens as among the intelligent elite. Birds used to also be similarly dismissed as inferior intelligence wise compared to us “higher” mammals but corvids, parrots and a range of other avian families show that this claim was bunk. I have a feeling that fishes will be getting a same makeover in our perception of them as our understanding grows.

]]>By: Proteushttp://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/groupers-use-gestures-to-recruit-morays-for-hunting-team-ups/#comment-47166
Sat, 27 Apr 2013 01:08:53 +0000http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/?p=155052#comment-47166I imagine there’s a decent chance the prey doesn’t make a run for it – in which case, the moray has dinner.
]]>By: Timhttp://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/groupers-use-gestures-to-recruit-morays-for-hunting-team-ups/#comment-47142
Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:41:02 +0000http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/?p=155052#comment-47142Does the grouper just use the eel to flush prey hiding from it? If so, what does the eel get out of the partnership? I would assume the eel and the grouper would each get a percentage of the kills, but the article made it sound like the grouper is using the eel in a rather one sided way. Unless the grouper chased the prey back into a crevise for the eel to get.
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